The Hollow Brush
by FaytRain
Summary: Naruto wakes up to find that everything he remembered to that point is a lie. Why does he have a girlfriend? Why is Sarutobi still alive? It's up to Naruto to find out what happened and change things back. But when given the chance, will he want to?


The Hollow Brush

AN: Hi everyone! Back from the grave with a new series to share with you. I'd like to believe I upped my writing ability enough for you all to enjoy this.

To all of you that loved Breaking the Mask, thank you for dealing with me for so long.. But I'm gonna stall it for a bit. I'm hoping to do a few chapters on this first, and possibly re-write Breaking the Mask from the beginning. Its quite bad. Seriously. Chapter 1-onwards really needs revamping.

Please read, enjoy, and review!

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Prologue:

It was a normal Fall day as villagers wandered in and about town, Selling their wares and shopping for lunch. It was a day just like any other. Well as normal as a day a ninja could have. It had been a few days since the invasion of Konoha. And nearly everyone on the team was still ready for a nice long rest. But no, not Naruto. He was still antsy from the exams, and was looking for something exciting to do.

Naruto was on a branch of a very tall tree, in the middle of the training field, swinging his legs back and forth as he stared at the blue sky. The clouds were white and fluffy, the sky was shining blue, and the birds were chirping happily in sweet melody. The blond, suntanned boy had only one thing to say to this.

"How boring!" Naruto cried as he swung his legs up and off the tree, landing perfectly on the soft grass below. "Ever since our last mission there hasn't been a single thing to do!" He said as he ruffled his hair in frustration. "Sakura-chan has been busy with her family, Sasuke's been busy with who knows what, and Kakashi-sensei is doing... whatever Kakashi-sensei does."

"Might as well see what everyone else is doing." Naruto said dejectedly as he raised his hands above his head and walked off the training field.

--

Naruto walked about town, hands behind his head, looking for something to do. The streets were rather empty compared to usual. He couldn't count more than a dozen villagers wandering the streets. At the very least, he should have seen a couple dozen people at the market place alone. However, this detail was deemed unimportant and pushed aside in Naruto's brain. Right now Naruto was more focused on finding one of his friends to play with. Naruto didn't have to go too far before he found Neji sitting by himself on a park bench. As Naruto walked towards him, he began to notice something strange about Neji. His hair was much longer than normal, and he wasn't wearing his ninja headband, but a normal one instead. Neji had a looking glass in one hand and a hair in the other. It wasn't for his clothes, on an apparently thinner body, he never would have guessed it was him. At the moment, it seemed that Neji was enthralled by his own image in the mirror as he brushed his hair carefully.

"Hey Neji!" Naruto called out to him as he ran to the long-haired boy's side. "Are you doing? I haven't seen anyone else today at all! Weird, huh?" He said, trying to stir up conversation.

Naruto had expected some kind of insult, or at least some kind of witty remark. He also expected to be ignored by Neji. However, he hadn't expected this. "Naruto! I-I didn't see you there!" Neji exclaimed in surprise. "The weather is great isn't it?! I really like the clouds today! Oh! That reminds me! There are clouds yesterday too! Umm.. Ahh.." Neji stammered, obviously nervous. Finally, Neji couldn't take any more. "I-I got to go Naruto! I'll see you later bye!" He said in a rush as white eyed boy gathered his nearby belongings and ran off.

Naruto stood there, his arm slightly outstretched, as if he wanted to stop Neji. "That.. Was strange. Was Neji always like that?" The blond questioned himself. Neji seemed a little off just then. He was thinner, his hair was longer, and was his voice a little higher? It couldn't be. Neji was always like that. Wasn't he?

Naruto just sighed and shrugged it off. In spite of the recent weirdness from Neji, Naruto was still disappointed. Not a single person he recognized was on the street. 'Well.. Other than the shop keepers.' Naruto added mentally. And so, sticking his hands into his pockets, Naruto wandered off in the opposite direction, still searching for a familiar face.

--

Naruto continued to search for his friends. When he was desperate, he even dropped by the local academy to find Konohamaru. Still no luck. The blond continued his search for the rest of the afternoon, stretching well into the sunset. At this point, he had finally given up. Throwing his hands into the air in frustration, he then began his trek on home.

As he was about to open the door to his small, but familiar apartment, he realized that it was unlocked. "Damn it.. More villagers?" He whispered to himself as he drew out a long and thin kunai. Counting to himself, Naruto readied to burst through. "1..2..Now!" He yelled as he kick his door aside, flicking his lights on and getting into a fighting position.

Just as he was about to attack the slightly blurry figure, he was swiftly hit on the head. "Come on! You're going to be late!" Said Ten-Ten, as she tapped her foot in annoyance. Apparently, she was waiting for him right inside his apartment.

Grabbing onto his arm, she pulled him along outside towards Ichiraku's. "Wait! Ten-Ten! What's happening?" He pleaded as he was dragged along. "You'll find out right now!" She said as they stood in front of Ichiraku's, a quaint ramen shop nearby his house. Sometimes it was hard to get a seat in there, but the owner always had a few stools near the counter reserved for his favorite customers. Naruto suddenly had a small headache as memories of Ichiraku's flooded his mind for some reason.

"Well, what are you waiting for?" Ten-Ten said as she pushed him inside.

He took a small step back as a light flashed in his eyes. Blinking a little he looked into the store and saw all his friends there, with Sakura holding a small camera, which had apparently taken a picture of him. "Happy Birthday Naruto!" They said in chorus.

Sasuke, Sakura, Choji, Rock Lee, Kiba, Shino, Hinata, Ten-Ten, Neji, Shikamaru, and Ino were all there. As well as Kakashi, Genma, Kuranai and Gai. And in the corner was Iruka, the ramen shop owner, and the Third. They were all in Ichiraku's, surrounded a rather large table, with an even larger feast on top of it.

Naruto took a small step back as tears welled up in his eyes. He had never gotten something like this before. His birthdays were usually spent with Iruka and Sarutobi, eating a bowl of ramen at Ichiraku. "I don't know what to say everyone.. This.. This is.." Choji stopped him in mid-sentence as he patted his shoulder. "How about, let's eat?" Choji said jovially. Naruto only laughed at this and nodded.

And after that, the night was a blur. A wave of colors, smells, senses and emotions. There was a lot of love and happiness in the air. There were plenty of hugs, screaming and cake. Lots of cake. A simple and light vanilla cake with peaches and oranges on top. Naruto's favorite kind of cake. He had gotten many presents that day. A couple of small gifts from people he wasn't so acquainted with, such as Shino, who had given him a stuffed orange spider, and Hinata, who had given him a clear glass ramen bowl. However, a couple gifts that stood out in his mind was the 'Basic Jutsu for Genin' scroll from Sarutobi, and a silver-steel spear from his girlfriend, Ten-Ten.

Naruto's thirteenth birthday was possibly the happiest day of his life and he knew it.

The party was one of the greatest experiences of his entire life. So much, that even as he laid down in his bed, he was giddy from happiness. His life was great. He was one of the greatest students of the academy, had a wonderful girlfriend and plenty of friends to call his own. "I'm the luckiest guy in the world.." Naruto mumbled as he pulled his warm and soft comforter, one of the few luxuries he could afford, over his body. Curling up in his bed, he dreamed a child's dream. Filled with wonders of heroism and adventure. Saving damsels in distress and slaying giant summoned dragons with a glowing sword.

Life couldn't get any better for Naruto.

At least that's what he thought.

--

It was the morning after. Birds chirped and ninjas hopped from roof to roof, all heading towards their destinations, many of them being the morning shift gate guards. Despite being the middle of October, the sun still shone brightly, rays of light shining on houses and windows. One of these rays shone down upon a sleeping boy's face, arousing the boy from his slumber. Said boy was none other than Naruto Uzumaki, age thirteen, and landlord of the Kyuubi, one of the strongest beasts to ever devastate the land.

Naruto stretched and yawned, a few tears squeezing out of his eyes as he did so, as he set off to accomplish his morning routine. However, just as he rose from his placed his hand on the side of his bed, he felt a strange shape underneath it. Still tired, he grasped the long sleek object and pulled it to his face.

And there he saw it. A brush, a calligraphy brush to be more exact.

But it was not any brush, mind you, it was a strange and mysterious brush. It had intricate swirls and designs all about it, blue and orange blending with each other, side by side as long black waves stretched from tip to tip. The tips themselves were not like a normal brush either. While many tips were bristled and uncontrollable, this tips on this brush were soft, and seemed to stick to one another without a single hair out of place.

As Naruto continued to hold and observe the brush in front of him, something strange began to happen. It began to glow white. A shining white that could have blinded anyone who looked directly into it. And as so, it blinded Naruto the moment he set his eyes upon it.

And then came the pain.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Naruto screamed as he fell onto the ground, clutching his throbbing head. It was as if, at one moment, thousands of fists rained down upon him in a single moment. He writhed and cried on the ground, twisting and turning. Doing anything to get rid of this pain.

However, that wasn't the most painful part.

He began to remember things. He remembered beatings from the villagers. He remembered Neji's uptight, unchanging personality. Not the nervous, gender-confused wreck of a person he was now. He remembered Sakura, the girl he had a crush on, an unrequited love if anything else. He remembered knowing Ten-Ten as a teammate of Neji, a stranger, not the loving and doting girlfriend he has now. He remembered the death of Sarutobi to Orochimaru. He remembered many things different than the world he knew now. He remembered it all.

As he relived memories and writhed in pain on the floor, he clutched that mysterious brush.

A brush shrouded in many secrets.

Something that could change the world, as well as something that could end it.

A brush that would change his life forever.

It was the Hollow Brush.

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What did you all think? Hoping to expand on this if enough people like.

Also, from this point on, I've decided to up my ante. This chapter is about 2000-ish words. Every chapter I will be increasing it by a minimum of 500 words. Hopefully, I'll go for 7000 words per chapter. I really want to become better at writing. Point it out if I haven't increased each chapter by at at least 500 words. Okay? Thanks!

Please review if you can! I can use all the help I can get!


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